mr b's comeback

[Llani Boy]

What did you do on your bike ride Mr B as your post has resulted in a Bad Gateway on that thread?

Ignore the above. Marco's post has resurrected it

[mr brightside]

Disaster keeps striking me, first I have to ditch my hilly prep run for barbondale, then I find I've worn the bike rear tyre down to the Kevlar weave.

Back tightness forced me to abandon my plans to run, as it's screwing up my hamstrings, so I begrudgingly rolled the bike out. Whilst blowing some air into the rear I realised it was totally shot through to the webbing, and that I must have rode back from Ilkley with it in this shocking state on Monday. It also occurred to me that had it burst, Graham could have had the chance to cruise past in his Merc thinking to himself, I pity that fellow whoever he is.

So anyway, the standard 50m up to the craven arms and back on, horror of horrors, the Raleigh 853 summer bike. The lightweight, low drag construction meant I was flying and completed the ride in 2h57.

[Graham Breeze]

It also occurred to me that had it burst, Graham could have had the chance to cruise past in his Merc thinking to himself, I pity that fellow whoever he is.

But only if it had been pouring down would I have received any real pleasure.

[mr brightside]

The weather, last time i was out on it, was awful.

[mr brightside]

It seems like running slowly downhill is the next thing to cause me injury. It was a mixed rep session with horsforth harriers last night, hills and 600m, and the lateral side of my right knee was so bad afterwards i had to walk back. I got some benefit out of the session.

[mr brightside]

Bramley parkrun this morning, nearly didn't go after the injury trouble on Tuesday, but decided to spare the horses and run at 40m10k pace. My knee pain was almost certainly the result of improper pelvic rotation due to back tightness. 2 women got in front of me on lap 2, but my chosen pace allowed me to stick with them. I did one of helm hill Ray's specials on them in the last 500, overtaking them plus another guy and putting 20s into them off an initial deficit of 10s. Go hard and go early. 20.59.

[mr brightside]

Runners and Riders race today, a last minute decision just for the hell of it, 4.9m/870'. My left kneecap began to maltrack during my warmup and carried on doing so for half the race, the gales were stifling my running and i had given up racing anyone before my knee stopped hurting. The rough descent into the Dib gill was amazing and i knocked 4 people into next week, only to have my arse sawn off, varnished, and handed back to me on the way back out; by this time my knee had quit and my left ankle had started. Ted has to zig zag the last descent to stop people on bikes ending up in his barns, which tested my left ankle quite a lot, i should have taped it really and will do from now on. The spread of cakes and sarnies was the best i've ever seen at any race, and the hospitality from Ted and the tea helpers was outstanding; it was basically all you can drink on the tea.

[mr brightside]

I wanted to run in the snow storm this evening, so forgetting how much snow hurts your eyeballs when it hits them, I headed out in the remains of the day(light). 5k offroad in the woods and fields, accumulations were wet and slushy, it was a far cry from the crunchy powder we love best. No trouble from my ankle.

[Graham Breeze]

The outstanding example is the Settle - Carlisle railway which should never have been built, was always a financial calamity and was only built because two railway companies could not reach a sensible agreement.

The S&C is now a national treasure but its construction was utter financial folly.

A Victorian HS2?

But one I shall travel on to get to Glasgow in a few weeks time.

In the meantime on the train today I noted the work to extend the length of the platforms on the Wharfedale Line (Leeds to Ilkley) at Burley in W., Guiseley and Menston stations to accommodate trains of six carriages rather than the current four (which used to be only three).

Of course in the 1960s - post "Beeching Plan" - this entire line was scheduled to be closed and torn up in the destructive way that British Railways then behaved. However the good burghers of Ilkley were more than a match for civil servants and politicians and the line stayed open, and prospered and eventually was electrified and Ilkley can now have four trains arrive each hour from Leeds /Bradford.

In the days of steam all the above stations had long platforms to accommodate special summer excursions to coastal resorts but this sort of train disappeared with the growth of car travel and the platforms were shortened (ie "fenced off") to accommodate fewer carriages and allow the weeds to grow freely.

But now the football crowd intimacy on some of the trains on this line means these platforms are being rebuilt to provide a 50% increase in carriage space - which is obviously to be welcomed by we who need space to read our daily newspaper.

Now of course sixty years after Beeching things have changed and most of the decisions taken by the government post-Beeching were sound. So it would be unreasonable to criticise the aforementioned platform shortening as a lack of vision.

Although one might wonder why on the adjacent Airedale Line (Leeds/Bradford, via Cononley, to Skipton) that when a brand new station was opened at Apperley Bridge in 2015 (sixty years after the original station was closed - post Beeching) it was built with short platforms that are now having to be extended to incorporate the new six carriage trains.

[anthonykay]

But one I shall travel on to get to Glasgow in a few weeks time.

I remember (and so do you, presumably) when there was a through service from Nottingham to Glasgow via the Settle & Carlisle line. On one occasion while I was a student at St Andrews, I used this service on my way home at the end of one term. The train journey from Leuchars to Bedford involved changing at Edinburgh, Carlisle, Nottingham and Kettering.

Incidentally, since you raised the subject of destructive behaviour by British Rail in the 1960's, what idiot thought that a town with the oldest and best university in Scotland and the most famous golf course in the world could do without a railway?